The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-08
DOCTOR TRlFULGAS.
BY JULES VERNE

BY JULES VERNE.
"Whiff!" whistles tine rising gale.
.Swashr beats the rain as it comes down in
torrents
Low sway the trees under the blast that sweeps
the Volsinian shore and dashes its fury against
the slopes of the mountains of Crimma. The
rock bound coast is rent and riven by the tenn
pestuous billows that surge and foam along the
vast Megalocrida sea.
In the depth of the bay nestles the little
port town of Luktrop 1t boasts few hundred
houses with greenish miradores sheltering them
from the winds of the main, and four or five
steep streets that look more like the beds of a
mountain torrent than public thoroughfares.
Not far off smokes tine Vanglor. arctic vol
cano which by day belches forth thick volumes
Of sulphurous vapor and by night ftful floods of
flame. This crater, visible fully one hundred
and fifty kertses out at sea. answers the pur
pose of beacon, and guides home to Luktr0p
the coasters-yawls, scows, hoys and duggers-
that pillow the troubled waters Of the Megao-
crida.
On the other side of the town are heaped MP
extensive ruins of the Crimmerian era, while
the suburb. of Moorish aspect, with its white
walls, round roofs and terraces calcined by the
sun, seems huge pile of square stone thrown
together at haphazard, and afar off reminds you
of a casbah or Algerian fortress. The whole mass
in fact, looks like cluster of dice. the dots OF
which have worn away with age Among other
STRUCTURES peculiar 10 the place NAY uc occu al
odd-looking building called the Six Quatre,'
from the number Of its windows. six in front
and four in the rear. A steeple rises above the
town, the square steeple OF Sainte Philhlene,
with its bells visible through the open stone
work, and when these are swung-as they are at
times-by the violence of the storm, it is &C
counted a bad sign, and the good people of the
place are filled with fear at the omen
Such is Luktrop, with few stray houses on
the heath beyond. scattered amid the broom
and furZe, as in Brittany,
Luktrop. however, is not in Brittany. Is it in
Francel I cannot say In Europel l don't
know. At any rate, it would be useless, per-
haps. to look up the place on the map even in
Steiler's atlas.
A discreet rap is heard at the small, narrow
door OF the "Six-Quatre," on the left hand cor
ner Of the Rue Messagliere.
A comfortable house is the six Quatre,' If
such word is known at Luktrop. and one of
the thriftiest in the place, il to earn on an
average few thousand fretzers year be q
sign of thrift.
ferocious yelp, something between bark
and a howl. has answered the rap.
Soon window above the door of the six
Quatre' is thrown open and an angry voice from
inside the house bawls out:
ITO the devil with all intruders!"
young girl, shivering in the rain, with
seedy, WORKOUT cape thrown over her shoulders,
inquiries if Dr. Trifulgas is at home
He is or isn't that depends"
II come for father who's dying"
"And where is he dyinel"
by the Val Karniou. four kertses hence
And what's his namef
wort Kartif."
What Wort Kartif. the herrng-curerw
Eyes; and if DR.. Trlfulgas would only Gomez
''Dr. Irifulgas isn't at home"
And the WINDOW is brutally closed in the poor
girls face, while the whiffs of the wind and the
swash OF the rain outside mix their voices in
roaring and deafening din
hard man is Dr. Trifulgas, with but little
feeling for fellow-creature, and one who attends
. patient only if handsomely paid in advance
for his services. His old dog, Hurzof, cross
between bull and spaniel might be said to
have more heart than ne. The door Of the six
Quartre remains invariably closed upon the poor
and opens only to the rich. Moreover, DR.. Tri-
fulgas has a whole scale Of fees; typhoid fever,
so much: brain fever. so much; so much for
perlcarditis and the same for as many more dis
eases AS doctors choose to invent by the dozen.
And Wort Kartif, the herring-curer. is a poor
man, with q penniess brood. Why, then.
should Dr. Trifulgas bedev,l himself, and on
ouch night
'.Rousing me from my Sleep" snufied he, as
lie went to bed again, lis alone worth ten fretz-
ers"
Twenty minutes had scarcely gone by when
the iron knocker again woke the echoes of the
'Six-Quatre."
Grumbline the Doctor got out of bed, and
from the window growled
who's there2
wort Kartifs wife"
1.-The herring.curer from Val Karnioug"
yes; and if you don't come he'll die"
well, you'll then be a widow"
''Here are twenty fretzers."
Twenty fretzers!" muttered he; "what wind
fall to be sure. Run the risk of catching cold
and lumbago for such sum, when I've got to
attend Tomorrow morning the equity, but
wealthy. Edzingov, at Kiltrens, whose ailment
is worth to me fifty fretzers minute. Not /.
indeed"
And with this pleasant prospect, Dr. Trifulgas
sought his bed, and went to sleep again as
soundly as before.
Whit! splash! and then rap! rap! rap!
Three blows from the knocker. struck with a
firm hand. added their rattle, this time to the
The Doctor, startled in his slumber, got up in
atowering passion. On opening his window the
storm swept in like whirlwind.
otis for the herring-curer."
What, that wretch AGAIN.
II am his mother"
MAY his mother. wife and daughter, die with
him."
.''TIs ft-n
aye, and q tight one. no doubt chuckle6
the Doctor in his rage.
1--WE have little money" said the old woman
IAN instalment on the house sold to Dantrup
the drayman Of the Rue Messagliere. If yor
don't come, my granddaughter will be without
father, my daughter without q husband, an(
myself without SON.
1t was heart-rending and horrible to hear tn.
old womans voice, and to think that the icy
wind froze the blood In her veins and nipped tn,
very bones under her skin.
"A fit, say youl Then .he fee is 200 fretzers
rejoined the heartless leech.
I'VE have only 100"
"Good night, then" and once more the window
was closed.
On second thought. however, he came to tn,
conclusion that after all, for an hours walk anl
half hours attendance, 120 fretzers made 81
fretzers an hour-1 fretzer a minute It wal
small profit at best but not to be entirely de
spised.
So, instead of getting into bed again. the Doc
tor this time slipped on his velvet suit hurried
down stairs in a pair Of stout boots, muffled him
self up in a thick waterproof overcoat, put or
his gloves and souwester and, leaving the lam,
lighted on the table near his Codex opened a
page 1917. pushed back the door of the six
Quatre." and appeared on the threshold
The old woman was there, leaning on stick
Der frame emaciated by eighty years of toll an,
misery.
1.-THE money" said he.
Here it is" muttered the wretched woman
Sand may God return it to you hundred fold!
"Godl The money of God9' sardonical
grinned the Doctor. HAS any one ever seen it
color"
He thereupon whistled for Hnrzof mt q an, a